Digimon: Revolution
by thequeenofzombies
Summary: In the darkness evil waits. She waits for the day when she will be strong enough to rise and the chosen child will fall. When that happens the world will be hers. And when the world is hers, hope and light will be forever extinguished.
1. Personal Hells

Revolution:

"_We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell" –Oscar Wilde _

She sits alone. She has always sat alone. She always will sit alone. It has been determined and predetermined, and she is not allowed to change it. She will win. When the chosen child dies the world will be hers. It is determined. Gently, she watches the girl. She moves among the crowd with grace and joy. She is, and always has been, moving. She, too, will sit alone. In the darkness, everything prevails. In the darkness, one cannot see. In the darkness, there is no light.

And when there is no light, the world will fall to Puerdramon.

A chill shot up Kari's spine as she sat down in her first period class. She froze in her position, perched just between her chair and the air above it. Everything seemed wrong. She sat down and glanced across the room. Davis was sitting in his position next to her, as he did every morning. He did not seem to be under the impression that anything was wrong at all. TK on the other hand was missing. 

As the bell rang Kari mouthed "Where's TK?" to Davis, who merely shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the teacher. Two minutes had not passed when Kari's phone vibrated in her pocket. She discreetly slipped out her phone and glanced at her text message. Tai? Why was her brother texting her during school? She flipped the phone open and glanced at it a moment. If her chills had faded at all they shot right back up as she read the message.

_Something is wrong. Ditch class._

Tai glanced at his best friend, but Matt's eyes were set dead ahead of him, focused on Izzy's computer screen. Izzy was typing away commands faster than Tai could read them, but he occasionally caught a word or two. "Deleted", "never seen", "dead", "kidnapped" and "final resort" were among the few he caught. They did not restore his confidence.

Tai was only vaguely aware of who Izzy was talking too. He knew her name was Rei something or other, and he knew that she was part of the Japanese portion of the UN committee of Digital Relations, which had been instated to clam down the huge hype after the Digital World was opened to the public. There was never an agreeing opinion on the Digital World, and over the past three years everything had only gotten more and more hectic. There were anti-Digimon extremists, the largest group of which called themselves the DigiDestroyers, because they thought they were clever. There were pro-Digimon activists who believed that all Digimon should be released into the human world and allowed to roam free. And then there were people like Tai and Matt and Izzy; people who actually understood what was happening and were caught dead middle of the debate.

The DigiDestined had not been around a lot in the past years. They stayed primarily under the radar, attempting to avoid any trouble they could get into. Unfortunately, this only seemed to be true for the Japanese DigiDestined. The rest of them thought that they were now celebrities and were entitled to scream their opinions from the top of skyscrapers. Which they were, in all fairness, but Tai understood that a bunch of people screaming "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" from their rooftops could only do so much help before it caused damage.

The issue was that none of the other DigiDestined could seem to agree with each other. Many sided with the activists who believed that the digital world and the human world should literally coexist as one, but a large group of others preferred the idea that the worlds should stay separate and act more as vacation spots than anything else. Then there were the ones who thought that only the DigiDestined should be able to go through, and those that thought the portal between the worlds should be closed forever so everything could go back to normal. As for Tai, well he didn't really know where he stood. At this point in time the whole thing seemed pointless. It was just another thing that would lead to another pointless war. And quite frankly, Tai was very sick of fighting wars.

Izzy stopped typing and looked at the two men standing behind him. No one spoke for a moment. Tai broke the silence.

"Well, do you think it's possible?"

Izzy could only nod. Matt nodded too, before turning around and dialing a number. He walked out of the room. Izzy looked at Tai, and Tai realized how very pale his genius friend looked.

"Tai…if what she says is true…if what she says is even _partly_ true…I don't know what will happen." Tai didn't understand where Izzy was going with this.

"Izz, no matter what happens we'll beat it. We've always done it before." Izzy shook his head vehemently, as if Tai's comment insulted his intelligence.

"That's not what I mean at _all_. I mean regardless of whether we beat…whatever it is. Anymore fights, anymore struggles, and the extremists will bite our heads off. They'll want to close the portal, and kill all Digimon who aren't in it. If anything happens people will just use it as another opportunity to try and destroy the Digital World. And if that happens…" Izzy's voice faltered. "If that happens we _lose_ Tai. If that happens then this whole fight was _pointless_." Tai nodded gravely.

"Then we fight. And when we can't fight, we stand in front of the enemy."

"What if we can't stand?" Tai only smiled.

"Then we'll die trying buddy."

Kari's hand shot up into the air faster than she could blink. She didn't bother to ask what was wrong. She didn't need to know, not yet at least. All she needed to know what that something was wrong and she needed to fix it. Before her teacher could even ask what was wrong, Kari had gotten out of her seat, grabbed her bag, and ran for the door. She sprinted down the halls, past confused teachers who were staring at her through open doors, and sprinted out of the front doors of her school into the clear spring morning. She did not stop running until she reached her house.

Meanwhile, someone else was running.

TK pushed through the leaves and trees, aware that he was running purely on adrenaline now, as he had run out of energy and oxygen some time ago. He grabbed onto any surface he could, desperately trying to put space between himself and….

Well and whatever _it_ was.

It was a Digimon. He was almost positive of it. It looked like a Digimon, not quite human, no quite animal, but it looked more like a human than any other Digimon he had seen. It had more of a human quality, less like it was made of data, and more like it was made of flesh. But whatever it was made of it clearly wanted TK dead. Not that TK could tell you why the damned thing wanted him dead.

TK wasn't even really aware of where he was. He had woken up in this strange forest and was only up for five minutes before he encountered the monster that was now chasing him. He was pretty sure he was in the Digital World, but how the hell had he gotten there?

He felt his foot slip on the mud underneath his feet. He fell face first into the mud. Sure enough, as soon as he it the ground, he found he was unable to move. His body ached for air and water and he could no longer find the strength to pick himself up. Desperate for something, _anything_, that could help him he reached weakly into his pocket, in an attempt to reach his D3. His cell phone came out instead.

"6 Missed Calls- Matt Cell."

_Christ. What could Matt want that would require him calling me 6 times?_ TK thought. His thoughts were interrupted by a large cry, something that sounded half angry and half pained. His cell phone rang again.

"Incoming Call- Matt Cell." 

"Incoming Call- Mom Cell."

_Now Mom and Matt. Whatever's happening is serious. _TK could feel the large creature rushing towards him. This was it, his last hope. He flipped open his cell phone. The call clicked on…

And then the creature was upon him.

The bell rang and Davis climbed out of his seat walking towards the door to the classroom.

"Davis." His teacher's voice held him back. He turned to face her.

"She's not coming back, is she?" She was looking directly at Kari's seat.

"No…I don't think she is." Davis said slowly.

She sighed and began to dial a number.

Davis turned and whipped out his phone.

"_Where the hell are you?"_

Little did Davis know that, some miles away, Matt was muttering the same thing into his cell phone.

"Answering machine again." He snapped his phone shut and looked at it, as if it somehow held the answers to all the questions he was dying to ask but had no idea how to phrase. Sora, Tai, and Izzy were looking at him with concern.

After six phone calls TK was not picking up.

They had no idea where he was.

"Davis! It's me. Listen, I need you to get Cody, Yolei and Ken and get over here as soon as possible. _No questions! _I'll explain later. Just get over here _now!_" Kari clicked her phone shut and look eagerly at Matt. Matt's expression told her everything. "No answer, huh?"

No one said anything for a while. They were all thinking the same thing. Now one of them just had to go out and say it.

It was Sora who broke the silence.

"Matt…have you…tried calling your mother?" Sora watched her boyfriend visibly tense at these words. If there was any word to describe the relationship between Matt and his mother, it was probably "nonexistent." They didn't talk, write, or even _look_ at each other if they didn't have too. Matt looked from his cell phone to his feet, unsure of how to answer, or what to do. Sora spoke again. "Matt, think this over…if he's not picking up, and he's not a school…"

Matt stood up straight and stared at her. "No." He said flatly. Tai stood up.

"Matt, think about it, I mean it's possible—"

"_No._ I don't know what's wrong…but it isn't that. It just _isn't_."

Tai looked at his friend in a mix of anger and frustration. Matt wasn't always stubborn, but when he decided to be he didn't move an inch.

"Think about what you're saying!"

"_No!_"

"Well could it hurt to _try?_" Tai was trying everything. Matt looked between Tai and Sora for a moment before sighing and flipping his cell phone open again. He scrolled through a long list of numbers before reaching one he hadn't called in years. Reluctantly, he pressed "call" and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?" She answered the phone the same way she always answered the phone, to the point where it nearly drove Matt insane.

"Hey Mom."

There was silence on the other end.

"…Matt?"

Matt could have said a thousand things in that space of time. He could have cracked a thousand jokes, or insulted her, or done anything he wanted. But he suddenly wasn't in the mood for hating his mother.

"Mom, have you seen TK?"

"Well I would assume he's at school right now." Matt sighed.

"Well he isn't." There was a long silence. Davis, Ken, Yolei, and Cody burst into the room.

"What is it? What-"Cody clamped a hand over his mouth. Davis' eyes drifted to Matt, who looked as if someone had just stabbed him through the heart.

"I…I haven't seen him since…last night." The last words came out a whisper. Matt clenched his jaw.

"Yeah…that's what I was worried about."

"That's it, I'm calling the-"

"Hold on Mom. Let me try again. If he doesn't pick up…" Matt couldn't bring himself to finish the thought, or to hear his Mother's answer. He clicked the "end" button and stared into his phone.

No one said a word.

Matt took a deep breath before pressing down on a single button. He put the phone back up to his ear.

This time, the phone rang twice before it clicked on. He had answered.

"TK!" Matt said into the phone. Before anything else could be said though, there was a scream.

An inhuman scream.

A scream that caused Matt to rip the phone from his ears. A scream that everyone in the room could hear, a scream that was so shattering that Tai thought the world might simply shatter due to its impact. Everyone in the room covered their eyes. Matt slammed his foot down on his phone, and with a large crack the scream stopped.

No one said anything for what felt like hours.

Finally, Matt looked at Izzy. "It's real." Matt couldn't say anything more. He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Sora followed him out, leaving the door open.

Davis glanced around the room.

"Someone mind telling me what exactly is going on?"

"Perhaps _I _could help you with that."

The woman had nothing particularly special about her. If you saw her in a crowd, your eyes would probably glance right past her. It was why she was chosen for the job. She was absolutely unmemorable.

But she knew exactly what was wrong with the world right now.

She glanced around the room at the eager faces looking at her. "Is everything ready?" Tai nodded.

"Sora and Matt are still gone, but they both already know…So I guess the room's yours."

The woman nodded.

"I am Rei. That is all you need to know about my name, my origin, or my life. Everything else will remain classified to you. Ask no questions. What I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance. I ask not to be interrupted until the end. Is that alright?" No one moved. She took that as a yes.

"As I suppose you all know, for the past three years the Digital World has been more or less at peace. Outside of the world, in our world, however, things have been in turmoil. I am one of many agents hired to keep the Digital World and human world safe from one another. I am here to prevent war.

"However, there is a new evil opening itself up in the Digital World. Recently, there have been more and more reports of missing children who have 'run away' to the Digital World to try and become tamers. More and more rouge Digimon are appearing, and many people in my agency are beginning to draw parallels between these two events.

"They believe that something in the Digital World is manipulating the Digimon into follow their actions. We believe that she wants to take over the Digital and the Human worlds. We cannot figure out why as of yet, however, but we do believe we know who she is."

Rei pressed a button and a picture came onto the screen.

To Yolei the creature looked like nothing she had ever seen before. She understood that it was supposed to be a Digimon, but it looked more like a child's drawing than a living being. She wore a tattered dress, which was gray and red. It had no texture, and looked like it was drawn on, instead of worn. She was oddly proportioned; her elbows and knees jutted out, and her facial features were over defined and sharp. She had two wings, one the wing of a bat, but with oddly drawn edges that seemed unnatural. The other was the wing of an angle, but that too did not seem real. Her hair was probably the most offensive thing though. A real person's hair has highlights, layers, textures, shine. The creature's hair was all on layer, one color, and had no texture. It was as if someone had wrapped a blanket of black around her. She had skin like LadyDevimon and a mouth like Myotismon and her overall appearance frightened Yolei. 

"What is that thing?" She questioned quietly.

"That is Puerdramon. The new Queen of the Digital World."

Somewhere in the darkness, Puerdramon smiled.

All was going according to plan.

"I've never seen a Digimon like _that_ before." Ken was talking as if someone had just died.

Rei sighed.

"That's because there is no other Digimon like her."

The younger kids turned their heads to face her.

"She's _human._"

A/N: Wow. I really didn't mean to write this. It just sort of…happened. Cool.

I know I _should_ be working on that CSI fic I started a few weeks ago, but my life got so hectic that I forgot about it, and now I can't decide where I want to go with it.

So I wrote this.

Just and FYI to all you shippers out there, for right now all couples in this will be canon. Yes I know, how disappointed. But it's only for now, so things might change. You never know!


	2. Black Hearts

"_I look inside myself and see my heart is black, I see my red door and it has been painted black, maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts, it's not easy facing up when your whole world is black." –Rolling Stones, Paint it Black_

TK awoke with a jolt.

It was dark, cold, and miserable where he was. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally. He had no recollection of how he got here or who had him. Every part of his body ached.

But at least he woke up.

He managed to push himself off the cold floor and get a look at where he was. Not that there was much to look at; the room wasn't furnished, and, so far as he could tell, he was the only person within a mile or so of where he was.

He stood slowly, and, with a sharp stab of pain, remembered everything. He stood straight; preparing to be ambushed by whatever that monster was that was chasing him. He heard the pat of footsteps approaching. He readied himself. If he had lived this long surely he could survive a few more minutes.

The creature that came into the room was not the creature that was chasing him, not remotely. The creature that chased him looked frightening, daunting, and yet very wrong. Deformed, almost. But the creature that stood in front of him now was not deformed. She was almost…pretty. _Almost_. As the creature before her, she looked deformed. She had no depth, no texture, no light reflection. It was as if she had been drawn on reality.

She made TK uncomfortable.

She walked forward. Her blonde hair hung in one, long, straight heap to her mid back. Two oblong butterfly wings hung off her back, but they did not look as though they could carry the smallest housefly. The bags under her eyes made her look older than she probably was. She smiled honestly, but her eyes betrayed no emotion. She did not trust TK. Not yet.

She approached him. "So, now that you've finally woken up, I guess it's time to explain who you are, huh?" TK was still in a stunned silence.

_What the hell had happened?_

She paused and glanced him over. He looked scruffy, and worn. Almost as worn as she looked, probably.

"Who are _you?_" TK was looking directly at her. She was a Digimon, she _had_ to be. But…she wasn't like any Mon he'd seen before. She seemed surprised at this. She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I guess you're not one of them, huh?"

TK shook his head violently. "One of _who_, one of _what? _Where the hell am I? Who are you? _What the hell is going on?"_ His voice pitched dangerously high on the last question. She stepped forward, her face unreadable. TK couldn't tell if she was going to hit him or hug him. In that sense she reminded him of his brother.

_Matt! Matt had been calling. What was going on?_

"Have you seen my brother?" TK questioned the girl. Her eyes widened.

"There are more of you? She took more than one?"

TK felt like hitting her. _"Stop it with all the cryptic bullshit!_" She stepped back at the tone of his voice, the anger in his face. "Who took me, who are you? _Give me an answer!_"

The Digimon nodded. She stepped forward and looked him over better. "I am Jolimon. I am the one responsible for saving your life. The creature that was chasing you was one of Peurdramon's creations." TK opened his mouth to ask a question but she beat him to the punch. "Peurdramon is the new leader of the Digital World. Or at least she will be very shortly."

TK swallowed. This was not going to be good.

"Peurdramon first started appearing in the Digital World about five weeks ago. A few of our agents described a 'bat like Digimon' prowling around who was not in any of their data. She would also appear and disappear in random intervals, making her impossible to track.

"Shortly after that is when the children started disappearing. We drew no connection until more unseen Digimon began to pop up repeatedly. A few weeks ago an agent managed to catch up with one, an apparent 'failure'. She called herself Jolimon, but, press her as we did, she could not remember anything about her human life. Test showed that she was created by somehow merging data into the human DNA. It was done poorly, representing the bizarre picture like qualities of the Digimon. Jolimon told us that she refused to follow the orders of the leader, whom she called Peurdramon. We were soon able to identify our mystery Digimon as this Peurdramon.

"According to Jolimon, Peurdramon had hundreds of other goons working with her. Most simply did without asking, as it was part of their programming. Jolimon was one of a few who were programmed incorrectly. We believe that Peurdramon is trying to wage a war against the human world using real life children as Digimon."

Ken shook his head. "But why? What does she gain by creating Digimon, instead of merely taking over already made Digimon?" 

Rei shook her head slightly. "When we first encountered Peurdramon, she looked nothing like a Digimon. She had no powers, and could barely walk, none the less fly. Over the past few weeks however, she had been developing. As regions of the Digital World are getting destroyed, Peurdramon and her Digimon are becoming more lifelike, gaining powers. We believe that Peurdramon can manipulate the data and use it to give her whatever powers she desires. She could make a virtually invincible army."

The room fell silent for a moment. Kari glanced at her brother and knew that they were both thinking the same thing. Kari spoke up. "No one would be willing to kill a human child."

Every eye in the room fell on the child of light.

Kari cleared her throat. "When we destroyed Digimon in the human world, they weren't reborn. They vanished. Forever. It's the same with humans in the digital world. That's the point. If we beat up a Digimon enough to make the data disappear it's like killing it. If her entire army is human children, no army in the world is going to want to shoot them down. No one would support the murder of children. The only way we could defeat them was if we could find a way to separate the human child and data, and then destroy the data. But you don't know how to do that, do you?" 

Rei shook her head sadly.

No one said anything for a moment. Yolei spoke the words that no one dared to say.

"We can't beat her."

By the end of Jolimon's story, TK had to sit down. His head was reeling.

Human Digimon. Slaves.

That's why she wanted him. That was going to be his destiny. He blinked a few times. Jolimon cleared her throat.

"TK…we…have a theory." She looked weakly at him. TK looked back at her. She spoke very quietly. "There… is a prophecy. It states that the Chosen One will blot out the darkness. We believe the Chosen One is the child of Light. We think that she is who Peurdramon is after. However, Peurdramon's human form.... is…different."

TK narrowed his eyes. "How so?"

"Unlike the rest of the Human Digimon, Peurdramon seems to share equal power with her Human Form. They…communicate with one another. The Human form gives the Digital Form power, and in return the Digital Form does what the Human Form asks. The Human form gives the Digital Form the human children; the Digital Form uses them to do the Human Form's bidding. It goes on and on. We believe that the Human form does not want what the Digital Form wants. Not exactly.

"We think the Human Form has a…grudge against the Digital World. We think that there was something in her past that propelled her to the dark side. She does not want the Child of Light and does not care for the rest of you. There is a person in the world who she wants. A person who she needs. We do not know who he is, but we have heard his name, and we believe that she plans to make him into a Digimon. That way he could be immortal, with her."

TK nodded. "So who is this guy? Her father, her boyfriend, her brother?" Jolimon shrugged.

"We don't even know what Peurdramon's human form is yet. We have no idea what she wants with him."

"You said you knew his name?" Jolimon nodded. "What is it?"

Jolimon paused for a moment.

"His name is Yamato Ishida." TK felt his heart plummet.

"My brother…"

At the same time TK was beginning to wake up in Jolimon's cave, and Rei was slowly explaining Peurdramon to the younger Digidestned, Matt and Sora sat in the hallway, neither speaking, but both thinking the same thing.

Something was very, very wrong.

They had spoken for maybe five minutes before the feeling of emptiness swept over both of them. They both understood the importance of the situation. Matt was going to find his brother, regardless of whether or not anyone else cared. Sora had agreed.

Then the feeling came. Someone was watching them.

Matt his hand on Sora's, and Sora nodded. They glance around, trying to find the source of the disturbance.

Sora saw her first. Standing out in the corner of the shadows stood something that was neither human nor Digimon. She stepped out of her hiding place and smiled. She tossed TK's phone down to Matt's feet. He stood to meet her eye. Despite the fact that she towered nearly a foot and a half over Matt, when she spoke she had the unmistakable voice of a young girl, perhaps not much older than TK himself.

"Honestly now Matt, what exactly is the point of pretending you're going to fight me? You wouldn't kill an innocent little girl now, would you?" She grinned wickedly. Sora stood next to her boyfriend. Peurdramon smiled.

"Well I guess that answer's that. You know Matt, there's a really easy way to make this all end. I can make everything go away in the blink of an eye, if you'd like." Matt made no move to comply. Her smile faded. "All you have to do is come with me, and I'll let your brother go. He can walk free." Matt laughed, shaking his head.

"You lost him, didn't you?" Peurdramon's eyes flashed for a moment. She regained her composure immediately, smile returning to her oversized lips. Her teeth where sharp as knives. Sora began to realize that she looked much more human than she had in the picture. Her hair had gotten more highlights and layers, her eyes reflected light, she seemed more three-dimensional. "What do you want?" Matt had stopped smiling and now looked at the Digimon as if he was about to smack her.

"To warn you Matt. You join me now, and things go easy. Everything goes the way it's supposed to. You don't and things only get more difficult. No one ends up happy if you decide it Matt. You're the turning point here. Join me, and everything goes smooth. Your choice." Matt appeared to contemplate this for a moment.

Then he spat in her face.

Peurdramon reeled back, furious. She flew forward, smashing Matt into the back of the wall. Sora reacted immediately.

"Get your hands off him you bitch!" Sora planted a kick in the middle of the creature's back. She flew forward against the wall, and Matt punched her in the face. She stumbled backwards, and Matt struggled out of her grasp.

"What the hell are you even? You're _nothing!_ Not strong enough to fight like a human and not powerful enough to fight like a Digimon!" Sora screamed at the now bleeding Peurdramon.

"You're just a pathetic freak of nature." Matt hissed. Peurdramon did not falter for a moment. Instead she looked up at the two defiant humans in front of her.

"If you insist on tempting fate then I suppose I might as well give you your poetic justice." With that she raised her hands. Without the bat of an eye or a moment's hesitation, a black smoke ripped out her hands. Matt and Sora leaped out of the way, and turned back. The smoke traveled along the hallway, bursting open doors, shattering mirrors, ripping up the carpet, and breaking the walls. Matt and Sora sat stunned on the ground for a brief moment. Peurdramon raised her hand slightly, and two shadow creatures arose from no where. They pinned Sora against a wall, and struggle as she might she could not escape.

Peurdramon walked over to Matt, and pinned him against a wall. She looked at him with cold, unfeeling eyes.

"I want you to understand the truth of your situation Matt. I'm going to give you a blessing. I want you to remember the choice you made here today. I want you to understand that everything you and your friends will go through is your fault. You could have stopped it, you could have changed it, but you chose not too. Before you go on your way playing hero, I want you to understand that this is not a Matt. The Good Guys do _not_ always win. Remember that this is reality Matt. And there is only one rule to reality. Everything ends, and everyone dies. Even you Matt." She narrowed her eyes. "_Especially_ you Matt."

With that she placed her hand over his face. She whispered something under her breath. The black smoke erupted from her hands again. Matt screamed in pain. She tossed him to the ground, and, with the snap of her fingers, disappeared into thin air.

Peurdramon sat inside her castle and meditated. While in her meditative state, she conversed with her human self.

"I take it he did not want to come?" The human girl inquired.

"No. But I showed him what his foolery will bring. He knows it is inevitable."

The girl shook her head. "Assume nothing Peurdramon. Your overconfidence will be the death of you. Of us."

Peurdramon nodded weakly. "Of course."

"In the meantime, focus on the Child of Light. Matt can wait." Peurdramon nodded again.

"Mistress, if you do not mind me asking, what do you require of that boy?" The girl looked at the monster.

"What do you require of the Child of Light? By capturing her you are able to better control the Digital World. But you do not even know why you _want_ to control the Digital World, do you?"

The creature did not respond.

The human continued.

"Your data was collected from the Dark Ocean. You exist only to be a Digimon equivalent of it. The last ones have all failed, and there was not enough data to fully make you. So they require me. I let you live so long as they give me what they promised. I want the Human World to pay for what they did to my family. I want the Digital World to pay for what they did. I want Matt because he is going to make my revenge complete. He is going to prove a point that I need to prove."

"And what is that my mistress?"

"I have always said that everything ends, and everyone dies." The creature nodded.

"I'm going to prove that I am not everyone."

The creature looked up, stunned.

"I am going to live forever."

Note: I forgot to put a disclaimer on the last chapter, so here it is. Don't own it. Never will. Shocker. I also don't own any of the quotes at the beginnings. They are credited to the speaker or artist. Also, my future updates won't be nearly as frequent as these two have been. This is a rare occurrence!


	3. He Who Fights Monsters

"_He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." –Friedrich Nietzsche_

Had he really seen it? Had he really seen anything at all?

It was vivid. Too vivid to be a dream. It was more like a memory. But how could he remember something that never happened?

He blinked, trying to get the world back into focus. But which world was he living in? Who was he? _What_ was he?

He was no longer sure of the answer.

And that frightened him.

That frightened him _greatly_.

She frowned slightly.

What was her master doing? What did she want with the Boy of Friendship? He was nothing to their plans; he had no say in the fate of the Digital World. Not a great say at least. But here she was, obsessing over him as if he held the very answers to the universe in his hands.

Peurdramon did not like this side of her human master. She preferred the side that answered to logic and reasoning; the side that completely understood the things that were at stake for both of them. This side of her master thought irrationally; as if there was something else she desired.

_Why do I fight?_

The question plagued Peurdramon. She had been promised an answer, and yet her master seemed reluctant to give it to her. It was a deal; Peurdramon helped the human, the human helped her. But the human seemed resigned; the human acted as if everything would play out in time.

Peurdramon did not like the side of her master that treated her as a slave. She hated being second to anyone, nonetheless the pathetic human child she had latched onto. If the girl had such dastardly plans then why was she so edgy about fighting? Peurdramon had the power to kill the boy then and there, and yet the human did not want him dead.

Peurdramon slowly walked the wandering halls of her mind. It was a long and empty hallway, drenched in blue light. She did not like the empty, hollow sound her feet made on the floor. It echoed down the rows of doors she could not open, and would not want to open if she could. Those were deep parts of the human's subconscious, and Peurdramon was content with being kept out of them. She walked to final part of the hallway, pausing before the threshold of the room. The human's eyes met hers, and neither said a word for a moment. Peurdramon entered without being asked, and spoke without being spoken too.

"Why did you leave him?" The human's eyes narrowed slightly, and She stood from Her sitting place on a rather modest throne on the back wall. She walked towards the Digimon and glanced her over once or twice.

"I told you that I did not want him dead. I assure you I have my reasons Peurdramon. Now, I believe you have a Child of Light to find."

"Why do I fight?" The human made a noise of frustration, impatience, and anger, somewhere deep in the back of Her throat.

"As I have said before and will say again, I will tell you why you fight and answer all your questions about your past once you deliver me the Child of Friendship." Peurdramon had heard this answer a thousand times before. What was different about this time, and what was different about everything that had to do with her master now, was that a handwave was no longer acceptable to Peurdramon.

"You could have taken him today, master. And yet, you did not. I could have easily trumped him, outsmarted him, killed him even. But you did not let me. I am beginning to think that you do not really want the Boy of Friendship. I think you like the idea of controlling me." There was no response from the human. "Well?"

"When did you become so impatient." It was not a question. She did not intend for Peurdramon to answer. Rather, She intended for Peurdramon to understand that She was displeased with Peurdramon's behavior, and She would severely punish Peurdramon for what the Digimon had done. Peurdramon was not content with this. Not anymore.

"I hate to anger you master, but I am suddenly very unsure of what exactly you want. If you are going to be a part of me then you might as well _be_ a part of me. Our minds are not one. We cannot defeat the DigiDestined in a state like this. I want to know my answers. Once I am assured that you want what I want I will give you what you desire. Until then, I will not serve you." The human stared at her. Peurdramon could not read her master's face. It was a mix of amusement, displeasure, and fury, and it covered Peurdramon in sickness.

"I thought we agreed that once you gave me what I wanted I would help you solve your pathetic little identity crisis." Peurdramon seemed apt to respond, but her master cut her off. "That is the difference between you and I Peurdramon. That is what makes me stronger than you. See, you know what you want but not why you want it. You are filled with desires that you cannot understand, and you are confused as to why you feel anything at all. I, on the other hand, know exactly _why_ I want what I want, but am uncertain as to what I want. I know who I am and why I'm here and what my purpose in life is. I simply do not have the means to make my purposes come true. Not yet at least. I have always known what my goals were. You…you would be nothing without me Peurdramon. You are weak. But I will tell you why you fight. I will tell you everything."

She waited to see if Peurdramon had an objection. She did not. The master continued.

"You fight because you are programmed to do so. You are nothing but data, Peurdramon. You exist because the data exists. You look the way you do because of the data. The data controls the way you act, the way you move, the way you talk. You have no free will over the data. You have no control over yourself. I have given you that power. I have given you the ability to understand and reason.

"You fight because some evil Digimon some years back wanted you to fight. He created you out of bits and pieces of other Digimon's data, and bits and pieces of his own. You were to serve his purpose. But he did not have enough data to fully create you, and was defeated before he could finish you. You were lost in the Digital Sea, otherwise known as the Dark Ocean. Evil data that had no purpose. Eventually the Ocean was able to give you enough data to form into an egg. I was called to your egg. When I touched your egg the data latched onto me. I allowed you to exist. I gave you a name, memories, the ability to reason. You fight because you are programmed to. You wonder because _I _want you to. And I can take away these privileges as easily as I gave them, I assure you."

There was an empty silence in the room and Peurdramon slowly chewed on her master's words.

"Why do we need the Child of Light?"

Her master rolled Her eyes as if the answer was right in front of Peurdramon. "The Child of Light is three things. She is a source of power, a source of harmony, and a source of purpose. Without her power they could not physically defeat us. Without her harmony they could not work well enough as a team to defeat us. And without her purpose they would lose sight of what truly matters. They would be defenseless"

There was another silence. The master took this time to study Her creation. Peurdramon was beginning to look more human. The master was certain that She was beginning to look more like a Digimon as well. Her lips were noticeably redder; Her eyes more like snake eyes; and Her digits and limbs had begun to grow disproportionately to her body. The master wondered what would happen if Peurdramon and Her were to split. She would never say it aloud, but She feared that She would die without Peurdramon's data attached to her. She did not want to die. It was the only thing She truly feared. It was the only thing she did not know.

Peurdramon spoke one last time. "How does the Boy of Friendship factor into all of this? What does he do?" The master smiled. She was happy with this question.

"He will be our greatest ally Peurdramon. For when He falls, we will rise."

Peurdramon shook her head. "But what if he does not fall?"

The master laughed. It was not a fighting laugh. It was the laugh of a small child, truly experiencing happiness. It was a laugh that filled Peurdramon with purpose; a laugh that would fill anyone with purpose. It was a laugh that made you forget how truly evil the master was.

"It is beyond his control. The gift we gave him was the gift of knowing. He knows what he will become. He knows what will happen. The choice is whether or not he will come easily, or with a fight. And if he chooses to fight, his friends will die." Peurdramon looked at her master.

Another questioned occurred, but her master waved her hand dismissively.

"I am done with your questions now Peurdramon."

Peurdramon was persistent. The master sighed. "Very well. What do you wish to know?"

"Why does he fall? What occurs?" The master laughed. It was not the laugh that filled one with purpose. Rather, it was the laugh that sent shivers up the spine of those who felt nothing for anyone. It was the laugh that one heard when going the Hell. It was the laugh of pure Evil winning.

"He will look into the Dark Ocean. It will answer his questions. I will answer his questions. He will let the darkness seep into his skin, because the darkness is the only thing that allows him to know and understand. The darkness is the only thing that can fulfill him. And once he has glanced into the darkness, he will not be able to turn back."

Peurdramon nodded, and left without another question.

The master smiled. Matt would come to her, whether or not he understood it. He would come.

_They all do._

Had he really seen anything at all?

He was sitting on a beach he had seen and yet had never been to; watching as the tide drifted lazily over his feet and ankles, before receding shyly back to its origins. He closed his eyes and rested in the solitude. He enjoyed the feeling in his soul; he enjoyed the pain that was engulfing him. He enjoyed feeling empty and alone.

And that frightened him.

He opened his eyes again and saw a figure standing far out in the ocean. She approached him slowly, her eyes never leaving his. She stepped onto the shore and towered over his head. Her lips were red, too red to be human. Her teeth were jagged and sharp, her hair unnaturally dark, her skin tinted oddly. She smiled like a monster, and laughed like a child. She was everything he feared, everything he was afraid of becoming, and yet he knew not who she was or why she was there.

"Are you ready Matt?" The monsters red eyes locked onto his blue ones. Without thinking through his mind he nodded, slowly.

"When haven't I been ready?" He stood up quickly, nearly knocking her into the ocean. She stumbled back, and he made no move to grab her. She seemed angered by this. Her blue sundress was torn at the ends, and was still sitting in the water. Standing up, she was noticeably shorter than he was. Her skin was unwrinkled, and yet she had the appearance of having lived a thousand lives; of being trapped in a body and a mind she could not entirely control.

Matt moved past her, farther into the ocean. He ignored her angry stares as he glanced onto his new home. She turned to face him. "Do not ignore me Matt. It will serve you poorly." Matt let out a laugh that was not his voice. It was a laugh filled with cynicism and bitterness that only a person who has lived through war could truly experience and understand. It was the laugh of a person who has seen death and destruction; who has watched hope and light vanish from the places he once called home; who has witnessed the people he loved die for nothing. It was the laugh of someone who had lost all hope that everything would be alright. It was the laugh of someone who had given into the darkness. It was the laugh of someone who was content with dying. The laugh of someone who had given up.

Matt turned back around and glared at the girl. She was ignorant. She believed she had control of Matt, and she did not. She could control nothing. "You think you can make me listen to you? You think you can make me care? You dragged me through hell and back. You murdered my family and my friends. You slit my throat and left me to die, and yet…at the last moment you changed your mind. You want me to live. You _need_ me to live. You feed off my darkness." Matt glared at her. Her coy smile, her pretentious attitude. Everything about her filled Matt with undeniable hate. Everything she said or did made him want to slit her throat open and laugh as she bled to death in his arms.

"You never told me why you wanted me. What do you gain from my darkness?" The girl looked at him with amusement. He hated that look. He hated her. He had never hated anything before in his life, but he _hated_ her.

"I _don't_ need _you_ Matt. I need your body. I need your soul. Once your soul has fallen completely to darkness I will have no more use for it. I need you to become what I lost." Matt shook his head bitterly.

"How could you possibly make me darker than I already am? You slaughtered my parents in front of my eyes. You killed my brother on his wedding day. You tortured my best friends until they begged you to stop, until you had drained all hope from them. You killed the Child of Light. You killed my wife. What could you possibly do to make my life worse than it already is?"

She laughed. It was the laugh of a child. It was the laugh of a monster. It was a laugh that Matt would never forget as long as he lived. It was the laugh that rang when his wife died in his arms. It was the laugh that rang when the Digital World turned to hell. It was the laugh that would ring when he died.

"We were wrong." The sentence made her stop short. She looked at him with perverse curiosity, as if he were a child killing a squirrel. A part of her wanted him to stop what he was saying, but a larger part wanted to know what would happen next. "We always thought that the monster was the Digital part of you. We convinced ourselves that no human could be so evil. We told ourselves you were corrupt. It was the data that was corrupted. You are nothing but a monster. A sick, sadistic little monster. And once I'm gone, you'll have nobody left to play with. And then you will be alone. And once you're alone, you'll lose." The child laughed again.

"You have no _idea_ Matt. Now are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to watch your daughter die?" She could have eaten his expression, and to her it would have been the sweetest delight in the world. "Oh yes, I found her. Did you really think you could keep her from me? I want to watch the hope leave her eyes. I want to watch her give up. The younger ones are always fun. I've never killed someone under the age of five before." She glanced back at his delicious expression of horror and pain. "I imagine its fun."

"You bitch." Matt could not pour emotion into his words. He could not feel anything anymore. His heart was numb. He was cold.

"You should be wary Matt. I can feel the darkness consuming you. I have a feeling that when I slit the throat of your pathetic little daughter, you will feel nothing at all. You have become numb Matt. You are numb enough for me to take. You have become dark enough to join me. You are becoming me, Matt. Try as you might the Dark Ocean is consuming you. You and I are one Matt. You and I are one."

The thought was enough to make Matt sob.

Izzy pursed his lips as Joe shook his head in amazement.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing. Not even a bruise. There is no explainable reason why he was coughing up blood. Not unless he got a sudden case of TB."

"And the fainting?"

Joe shook his head The so-called Digi-Destined were huddled in Tai's living room, trying to form some reasonable explanation for the events that had just occurred. The hallway outside of Tai's apartment was in shreds; their friend had started hacking up blood before collapsing; and a creature that was there one moment was suddenly gone the next. There was no explanation. There was no rhyme or reason.

There was only chaos.

Izzy leaned his head against the chair and glanced between the two groups. The older kids stood to his right, the younger ones to his left, and TK and Kari sat perfectly positioned in the middle. They were never all here, not at once. Yet here they all were. Minus Mimi, of course, but they had come to expect that by now. But the rest of them now stood in front of him, and Izzy had to wonder if there was a reason that they were all here. As if the next great evil required all of them.

Izzy glanced at each of his friends, wondering how they had all managed to change in such a short time. Tai had somehow become more reserved, more calculated. Sora had reverted a bit back to her tomboyish ways. Joe was practically an adult, already looking as if he had ten years on the rest of them. Matt…Izzy had watched the boy grow out of his shell and away from the darkness. But now that all seemed to change.

Ken was much like Matt in that way; they had both managed to defeat their inner demons and find themselves in the process. TK and Kari were more mature than any other kids their age. Cody was still stoic, and wise beyond his years. Davis was still a hothead, but he had taken a page away from the last adventure and put his hotheadedness to good use. Yolei was still as argumentative and bossy as before, but she was learning to control her anger. They had all grown up. And they were all here. And for just a moment, Izzy understood that his world was at peace.

Which was when, naturally, the shit hit the fan.

It was not right. This was not right. That was not his world, or his place, or his time. It was a memory that had not yet occurred. It was the shape of things to come. It was the future. It was the future and he could not change it.

When he stood, he discovered that he was in water. It covered his feet, a thick black liquid that made him feel weighed down and empty. He needed to escape it. He threw open the door. His friends. They were there. He could see them. They turned to see him. Tai ran up first, smiled. But then they met eyes.

He felt all the hate and fear and anger in his stomach rise, through his throat and out his nose and mouth. He made pathetic sputtering noises unable to stop the blood. He looked into Tai's eyes, and found he was gone. He was in a classroom, a room he had been in before but had never seen. He was with a girl he knew, but he could not remember her name or her place or why she was there. It was not right. It was not his. _This_ was not his. She was saying something he could not hear. Tai was with her, standing, laughing along. They were happy, they were honest. He could not hear them. This was not his.

The images were flashing, people were saying things, the water was rising, and he was screaming words he could not hear. He mind reeled and shifted and moved to another time and place that was not his. The same girl, with Tai again. Only now the happiness was gone. It was replaced with shouts and yells and hate, and now there was violence, and a ring was thrown, and the girl left Tai standing there, looking hopeless and defeated, and he could do nothing for it was not his.

And the words rang through his head.

_Everything ends and everyone dies._

And now he was back. The water had risen, it was to his ankles, past his ankles, to his knees. He needed to get out of it. He pushed past them, trying to find a way out, but the water followed for it was immortal, it did not know time and space and it would not obey the rules. They were grabbing him, trying to look at him, but he knew if he looked he would see the sadness that was not his.

"_No_no_no_noNOno_noNO_noNO!" He was screaming now, pushing away pushing past. But Izzy had grabbed him. And his eyes met Izzy's.

And now there was a girl, she was running through a field, she was smiling pretty, twirling, happy, dancing, the bile was rising in his throat, lovely, wonderful, these were not his thoughts, this was not his. The blood was sputtering out and he was seeing her and seeing Izzy and watching them run in the forest, being happy, and he knew her.

What was her name? Mona, Margaret, Mary, Marty, Marni, Mori, Myra, Maya, Mira, Mira, _MIRA!_ He saw her and he watched her and she was spinning and she was laughing and the water was rising with the blood, and the scene was changing, and where were they?

A room, he had been here, but he was not here now for it was not his. Mona, Margaret, _MIRA! _ had her hands against Izzy's chest and he was crying, and what was that wailing and why wouldn't it stop, and what was she doing? And a baby, a _baby_, why was there a baby? It was in Izzy's arms, and he was begging her, he was asking her, but she would not go, and it was a war, a war, they were fighting a war. She was pushing against his chest, pushing him through a door, closing it, sealing it, and he was banging on it, begging, and she was pushing buttons and pulling levers, and the banging had stopped, but he felt sadness that he could not stop for it was not his. And now there was a knock, and a door was knocked over, and the _monsters_ were there, and Mona, Margaret, _MIRA! _had a gun, and she was shooting them. They took the gun and the MONSTER was there, and the MONSTER was not pleased, and the MONSTER put a bullet between the eyes of Mona, Margaret, _MIRA!_ And he felt a sadness that was not his.

And the words rang through his head.

_Everything ends and everyone dies._

And he was back, and the water was up to his waist. He was drowning in it and he needed to escape, and he could not look at them for he would drown if he did. They were calling him, and the water would not obey, and Joe grabbed him, and Joe looked him in the eyes and the water came, the water rose.

Now there was a girl again, and the blood poured out of his mouth at the sight of her. There was no Joe, only her, at a table, a candle lit the wax dripping because timetimetimetimetimetimetime was passing and she couldn't stop it. She waited and waited, but he could not wait with her for it was not his. Then she could not wait, and she wrote something that he could not read, and she left, and Joe came, and Joe read it, and Joe felt sadness, that he could not feel. And now it was different, now it was a library, and she was running through it, angry and tired, and Joe was following her, asking her, pleading her, but she would not stop.

Now they were outside, she was still running and Joe was still chasing and he was still watching and he could change nothing for it was not his. She was halfway across a street and she stopped, and she screamed and screamed and Joe was yelling back, but she would not listen, and then Joe was yelling and pointing and yelling and pointing and then there was a car, and blood and bones and anger and hate that was not his.

And the words rang through his head.

_Everything ends and everyone dies._

Now the water was up to his chest, and surely he would drown, for now it was always rising, and there was no escape and he was begging them please stopstopstop_stopstopstop__**stopstopstopSTOPSTOPSTOP**_**, **but they would not and they could not and then _she_ grabbed him. She looked him dead in the eyes and the water was rising and the blood, but he could control it.

For it was his.

It was him and her, and they were sitting. And she was crying, and he knew her sadness, he understood it for it was his sadness too. She stood up and threw something away, and now the water was past his eyes, and he could see her, and he stood and held her, and the water was past his head and surely he would drown.

But he was not drowning. For he could control it. For it was his.

And now the water was receding. The panic ebbing, the blood going back down his throat. He was looking at her, and she at him, and everything was alright. Everything was fine.

Matt leaned against the wall, his breath returning to normal. The others could only stare at him. They had just watched him panic and flail about and cough up blood and scream nonsense for the better part of five minutes. After a moment, he opened his eyes. He met theirs. And nothing was wrong.

"Okay." Everyone turned to look at Tai, who had a panicked look on his face, which rather matched the state of disarray and blood that was now his house. "What the _fuck_ was that?!"

They all turned to Matt. After a moment of consideration, Matt answered.

"It was her gift."

He was met with blank stares.

"I saw the future."

He was met with open mouths.

For she had given him a true gift. For now he knew the future. It was his. He could control it.

And if he could control it, he could _change_ it.

_Everything ends and everyone dies._

_But not today._

Note: Alright, so this was a long one, and it took me forever to decide where I wanted to go with it. It gets a bit mind-screwy there for a moment, and I'm sorry for that, but things will only get stranger in the future. Assuming our hero's live to see their futures that is. Thanks for reading!


	4. Not All a Dream

NOTE: I made a rather large continuity error in the last chapter that I wish to clear up. During Izzy's thoughts about the other Digi-Destined, I mentioned that TK was standing in-between the two groups with Kari. TK, however, is still with Jolimon back in the Digital World, which we will be getting back to in this chapter. I didn't mean to say he was there, only what Izzy was thinking about him. It has since been fixed, but to anyone who read and was confused, sorry.

"_I had a dream which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space, rayless and pathless, and the icy Earth swung blind and blackening in the moonless air."-Lord Byron. _

"Alright then. Start at the beginning, the first attack. What happened?" Izzy was staring at Matt, who had not moved since he stopped hacking up blood. "You saw the future? What does that mean?"

There was no response. Izzy tried to meet Matt's eyes, but Matt was looking through him. Izzy figured that Matt was looking through them all, through the walls of the apartment, and then the walls of the building, and then the entire city, and then the world, and the world was staring back at Matt with icy contemplation.

"I saw memories that were not quite memories." Izzy could feel Tai practically boil over in anger, and wondered when the poor boy would simply explode from the anger of not knowing. Izzy knew more about Tai that Tai knew, and Izzy understood that his greatest frustration came from his inability to know and understand everything, for as a leader he thought it was his job to know and contemplate and understand everything in all perfectness.

"Alright, that's it, I've _had_ it. Cut it with the cryptic bullshit. This isn't some goddamned TV show where you keep us hanging over the commercial break to draw in more people, this is reality. Your brother is trapped with the Digital equivalent Jack the Ripper, and you're sitting here trying to get us to read your mind? _No._ Tell us _exactly_ what just happened, because right now we're wasting time."

Matt's eyes locked against Tai, and Izzy practically saw the fire and ice clash. But he saw something else as well. Matt's eyes were a shade darker. It was as if part of the darkness that had just consumed him had been left behind in his eyes. It was unsettling, and Izzy knew Tai saw it as well, for after a moment, Tai looked away and Matt returned to contemplating his navel.

"I already told you everything I'm certain of. I saw the future. The rest…it complicated."

"Seeing the future isn't complicated enough?" Davis was shifting his gaze from Tai to Matt, waiting for someone to burst out laughing and make all of this some elaborate prank. He was waiting for it to be a dream, praying it was a dream, because if it was reality than his world was crashing to bits around him.

"How can you even be sure you _saw_ the future? What if she was just screwing with your brain?" Joe had a hint of hope in his voice that Matt's coughing up blood spasm had only been another crime by the not-quite-human-not-yet-Digimon Puerdramon. Matt shook his head slowly.

"It was like I was remembering things that hadn't happened yet. I saw people who I knew…but I haven't met them yet. If that's not the future than what is it?"

There wasn't an answer. Tai sighed.

"We're wasting time again. Just tell us what you saw, exactly what you saw. Maybe we can piece it all together."

Matt looked at Tai once again, in anguished desperation. He did not want to tell them. He did not want them to know of the horrible things he saw, of the bleak future that lay before them, of the inevitable war. Matt shook his head slowly, staring down at his feet. He knew he had lost. He only had one option. He had to tell them.

"You died."

There was another silence. Izzy seemed to contemplate this quietly.

"That's not all, is it?" Matt glared up at the boy genius. Like him as he did, Matt could never understand Izzy's willingness to press people on issues that should never be pressed on. He knew well his answer would not satisfy the curiosity of the boy, but he was resigned to spilling the entire truth. He needed to keep some of it.

"I…I'm not entirely sure. I was on a beach. In front of…an ocean I think. Made of...evil?" Matt suddenly realized how very stupid this all sounded. He had a feeling that he could brush it all off as a dream, say that the blood was from her beating, and dust everything away as if nothing happened. Kari silenced any attempt to do so, however.

"The Dark Ocean?"

There was a long silence as everyone in the room remembered the events of the years prior. Despite their greatest efforts, none of them could relocate the Dark Ocean. It remained forever a mystery to them. Very slowly Matt nodded.

"Wait…the Dark Ocean? The same thing that swallowed us up when we went to the Digital World for the first time?" Sora looked at Matt, then Tai, and finally Kari. It had been a theory that what had turned Matt evil (for all of five minutes) the first time was the very same thing that caused Kari to vanish three years prior. "So it's gone from simply controlling people, to becoming a physical thing to…"

"Creating Digimon." Rei stood in the doorway. Izzy blinked a few times, having completely forgotten she was there at all.

In fact, where had she been the past few minutes?

"What do you mean creating Digimon?" Joe spat out the question, which was part shock, part fear, and part anger. Izzy could imagine that all of his friends were now asking the same question. Just where had Rei vanished off too?

"We believe that the reason Peurdramon exists in no records is because she does not truly exist. Rather, she is a compilation of data from this…'Dark Ocean' as you call it. Our understanding is that the Dark Ocean is made of corrupted…or evil, as you put it, data in the Digital World. It has taken on a somewhat physical form in Peurdramon, but she required a host to become fully real. That host is the human who is currently trapped inside the Digimon. If we can find a way to separate the girl and the data, and just destroy the data we may be able to save the child."

"_No!"_ Matt slammed a fist into the table. Somewhere in his eyes Izzy swore he saw Matt show a deep understanding of something; as if everything made sense to him. "That was my vision, _that_ was what I saw! We spent the whole time thinking the Digimon was evil when it was the _girl_ all along! That's why we lose, that's why this all happens, that's why _everybody dies!_ Because we spent all of our time searching for the _wrong thing!_" Rei blinked several times, remaining unfazed.

"I'm afraid that that is a completely false statement. Data created from the pure evil of the Digital World versus a _child?_ I do not understand you Mr. Ishida. One moment you are coughing up blood and screaming backwards sayings as if the Devil himself has possessed you, and now you claim to have supernatural knowledge of the future?" Matt let his hand relax slightly. He glance at his friends and came over the horrid realization that they all thought he was insane.

"Look guys, please. I know how this sounds, I get it. But you need to believe me. I know what I saw…and…" He trailed off. Just how was he supposed to finish that sentence? A part of him knew that if he went into detail about what had happened, if he told them everything that it might turn them. But he couldn't do that. There was a part of him that understood that his knowledge of what was happening would drive him crazy. He knew that knowing the future would make all of his decisions more painful, that it would make everything harder. He couldn't let that happen to his friends.

Rei clicked her tongue slightly, shaking her head. _Poor, poor crazy boy. What are they going to do with you?_ Matt wanted to smack the smug look of pity off her face. She looked intently at him. "How could you possibly know the future? You think everything is laid out in a line? That everything we're doing is predetermined? What about Chaos Theory? What about free will? How could you assume that everything we're doing right now is merely destiny? And even if it was what would you do about it? What _could_ you do about it?" Matt looked at her. An idea clicked in his head.

In one moment, Matt stood from his seat, walked over to the woman, grabbed her by the shoulders and looked intently into her eyes. What Rei saw was enough to scar her forever. The boys eyes flashed different colors, the pupils grew and shrunk at random paces before simply exploding, his entire eyes turning red and rolling into the back of his head. He stammered backwards, clutching his stomach\, rocking back and forth on his heels, before finally retching forth blood. The blood spattered against her shoes, and she wailed in disgust. Matt fell backwards, landing on the couch, grabbing the sides to steady himself. He took several deep breaths. His eyes returned to normal. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at Rei.

"Sorry about your sister."

Rei narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking ab—"

Her phone rang. She flipped it out and looked at the caller ID.

Her mother.

_What?_ She looked back at Matt, who had not taken his eyes off her, and suddenly felt very uneasy. It was impossible.

The phone rang again.

Impossible.

"You gonna answer that?" Matt had arched an eyebrow, still looking at her. Why was she so afraid? Who cared? It wasn't possible!

Casually she flipped open the phone.

She could feel the blood running from her face. Her sister…dead. Not of some long lasting sickness, or a long coming heart attack, or from doing something stupid and reckless. She was just crossing a street. She was hit by a car. And she only died but thirty seconds ago. There was no _way…_

She looked back at Matt, flipping her phone shut, ignoring her mother and her sister and her life yet again.

"Alright then Mr. Ishida. So…maybe you _can_ see the future? But how exactly to you propose we _stop_ it?" Matt smirked.

"I think I have an idea."

TK paced back and forth along the cave floor, his mind reeling with possibilities that made no sense.

_Maybe she's one of those crazy devoted fangirls? Or maybe she's someone we know personally? _TK shook his head over and over again. The only answers that made sense seemed to far fetched that he couldn't even take them seriously.

He stopped, glancing back at Jolimon, who sat with her legs crossed, staring at him.

"We need to find her." Jolimon's eyes shot wide open, her mouth dropping. It remained that way for a moment before she shot out of her seat and moved towards the boy, regaining her composure.

"_No._ We risked enough saving you. The only reason we did it was because you were one of the chosen and we thought you can help. I'm not letting you risk everything we've worked for."

"We don't have a choice! The only way we can find answers is by going back! My brother and my friends will be here any minute—"

Jolimon cut him off with a bitter laugh. Her eyes were suddenly much darker, her face more closed off and shadowed. "We all said that too. We all said they'd be here any minute. And look where that got us. Your friends aren't coming TK. Even if they did they wouldn't want to go looking for Peurdramon. She wants to kill three of you. They don't even know you're _alive_ TK. They don't know _anything_ about you."

TK felt everything drain from his body in one foul swoop. Of course. The last thing any of them heard was that scream, that god awful _scream_ that had come from the monster. His phone was lost in the Digital World, his fate a mystery.

But _no_. Matt wouldn't give up. Matt would have to be bleeding out of every pore in his body before he stopped looking for TK. "My brother will come."

"The same brother who Peurdramon is stalking?" TK looked at Jolimon. The happy girl had suddenly turned into a cynical bitch. What the hell was happening here?

"You too, then?" Jolimon's eyes opened again, and she blinked with shock. "Peurdramon is half human half Digimon. You too? You must be. The part of you that feels compassion, that wants to escape…she's the human. The cynical part is the Digimon. The data from Peurdramon. Right?" Jolimon glanced at him, looking at him up and down. She nodded slowly.

"We don't rule equally. The Digimon…it's more like a part of my subconscious now. But how did you know that?" TK shrugged.

"Lucky guess. So who are you? Really? Human wise?" Jolimon looked down at her feet.

"I don't remember. Honestly."

"How'd you get your name?"

"Rosemon gave it too me. She gave us all of our names." TK looked around the cave, noticing the lack of other people with them.

"Where is this Rosemon?" Jolimon nodded to a small opening just past TK.

"Everyone's in there. For now."

TK nodded again. For now it was all he could do; nod like a useless bobble-head. He needed to act. But he knew there was no convincing the rebels. He would need his friends. He needed a way out of this world.

Not that he could remember how or why he was even here in the first place.

"Do you know what Jolimon means?" She looked at him as if he was crazy, hell maybe he was, before shaking her head very slowly. "Jolie. It's French. It means pretty. Rose is pink…did she name Peurdramon, too?"

She shook her head. "That's what the creature called herself when we first met her.

_Interesting. Rosemon clearly knows French…and so does Peurdramon. Two French digi-destined? Maybe this Rosemon knows more than she says…_

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No…I need to talk to Rosemon, if you don't mind."

Jolimon walked towards the opening and called for Rosemon. A second later a small figure appeared. Slightly more grotesque than Jolimon she stood at maybe four feet, covered in snow-like lace, with bizarre angles protruding out of her at various places.

"Bonjour TK."

He would know that voice anywhere.

"Catherine?"

His days were numbered.

She held a very small locket in her hands, twisting the silver metal around her fingers. Her days were numbered too, of course. It didn't matter, not now anyways. He would die long before she did. That was her plan.

She stood from her bench and shoved the locket into her jacket. Walking around the Human World would not be possible in a few weeks. Her human form would become to fake and unrealistic to pass as normal. For today, she could cover it up with makeup; tomorrow it would pass off as make up, in three weeks she would pass only for a monster.

So she might as well use the time she had to make his life hell.

His days were numbered, but in a different way. Tampering with the future was dangerous, even for her, but allowing another to see it was practically a death sentence. Her destiny was in place; she would manipulate the humans into fighting a Digimon war, with her as the leader of both sides. The Humans would win, sealing the gates to the Digital world and killing almost all of the poor bastards. Then she would turn, taking the Human World and the pathetic "DigiDestined with her. It was her destiny.

But destiny was no fun. She wanted a challenge. That challenge was him.

He would be driven to madness by her. His thirst for the knowledge of what she wanted with him coupled with his useless desire to change the inevitable would cause his entire mind to collapse in on itself. He did not know what she knew; he could only postpone the inevitable, he could never stop it. Not fully.

She turned towards her apartment building, to the elevator as the stench of human surrounded her. Everything was perfect. _Beyond_ perfect.

She would have him.

The elevator opened.

She was nearly plowed down by the boy himself as he dashed out of the apartment. The other followed. An older woman walked much slower, looking at them with an almost sick amusement.

"I am assured everything is in place Rei?"

The woman stopped and turned to face the child. Her eyes narrowed for a moment.

"Master?' The girl said nothing. "O-of course. Everything is in place!"

"And the child of light?" She could hear Rei swallow.

"A-almost."

She let out a dissatisfied hiss. "I am perfectly sure you are aware at how very…_replaceable_ you are, no? Do not disappoint me. You do not get a second chance."

Rei nodded and dashed after the children.

Carefully the girl stepped into the elevator and grinned.

His days were numbered.

To be exact, there were 27 days, 9 hours, 36 minutes, and .66 seconds left.

And then, Yamato Ishida would cause the end of the world.

She could barely contain her joy.

* * *

Note: Not so crazy about this chapter. So much explanation…argh. Well the fights start happening soon, so no worries. Oh well, hope you enjoy!


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